Sterling said skipper Kieran Askin ordered the team to play with patience, even after his ninth-minute goal.

"We had 90% possession and the goals soon came flowing through from there," he said.

"It all started from the patience our sweeper had and the perfect delivery of balls from the midfield."

Panthers were able to dominate control of the ball to leave the Wests reeling back into their own half for damage control.

"To be honest Wests didn't play a bad game. We as a team just shut down everything they had," Sterling said.

"We never let them play out of the back so the only option they had was to play a long ball up front.

"So we pretty much didn't let them play. They were under pressure for the whole 90 minutes."

Sterling said there was little to fix-up with the Panthers' performance in the build-up to the grand final against the Wests at the weekend.

Second division

FOR the first time since 2009, the Gunners have secured two places in the grand final after the second division squeezed past the Panthers.

Gunners' assistant coach Debbie Ovens said her team was lucky to escape with a 1-0 win after the Panthers made a dramatic comeback in the second half.

Ovens said a rocket of a shot would have been a sure equaliser if it had not been blocked by Steve Copas.

"We were very lucky there, that would have sent us into extra-time," she said.

"Nanango really came back at us hard. We didn't have the run of the ball like we did in the first half."

Ovens said the Gunners' second division squad would have to further step up its defence against Wests in the grand final at the weekend and be sure to put the ball in the back of the net with every chance.

Women

WESTS' women's team skipper Danielle Maudsley hopes to break the deja vu cycle she has landed in once again.

Wests' 3-2 win over Barambah has locked a spot in the grand final against the Panthers, the third time in as many years.

Maudsley said Wests' winning goal came as a stroke of luck after a Barambah defender knocked the ball into her own goal.

"With the wet ball, it could have happened at either end," she said.

Maudsley said she would implement a similar combination in the grand final against the Panthers.